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min question first answered

2018-11-20T15:31:59.637Z

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To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker what is the estimated cost to the House of (1) restoration,
(2) repair, and (3) fire protection work underway in (a) the Palace of Westminster,
(b) Fielden House, and (c) Millbank House.

<p>‘Restoration’ has been taken to include work currently underway on the Estate to
restore or conserve areas of the historic building fabric, including but not limited
to the restoration work in Westminster Hall and the Encaustic Tile project. It does
not include the estimated costs of the Restoration and Renewal Programme. ‘Repair’
includes project works underway on the estate but does not include general day to
day maintenance. Fire protection work costs are based on the Fire Life Safety Works
Programme.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>Palace of Westminster</p></td><td><p>Millbank
House</p></td><td><p>Fielden House</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Restoration</p></td><td><p>External
Courtyards Conservation work (Phase 1) current approved cost: £20.2m; Westminster
Hall current approved cost: £12.1m (subject to review); Elizabeth Tower current approved
cost: £61.1m (subject to review); Cast Iron Roofs current approved cost: £84.4m; Encaustic
Tiles current approved cost: £14.3m.</p></td><td><p>There is no restoration work currently
underway.</p></td><td><p>There is no restoration work currently underway.</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Repair</p></td><td><p>Works
to the Palace in 2017/18 totalled £2m; works in 2018/19 are forecast to cost £2.8m.</p></td><td><p>Works
to 5 Great College Street and its integration into Millbank House total £42.9m.</p></td><td><p>Planning
is underway for the refurbishment of Fielden House. Surveying work is expected to
commence in December 2018. The surveying working is required to finalise the business
case. Until it is finalised it is not possible to provide an estimate.</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Fire
Protection</p></td><td><p>The approved business cases forecast expenditure of £90m
for fire safety work underway in the Palace of Westminster. The forecast expenditure
of a project within the Fire Safety programme is currently being revised.</p></td><td><p>The
cost of fire protection in the Great College Street area of Millbank House has been
integrated into the project itself and therefore is included in the repair figure
above. The cost of Fire Protection in 1&amp;2 Millbank is currently forecast at £1.6m
excluding risk and optimism bias (OB) and £2.1m including risk and OB.</p></td><td><p>The
cost of making Fielden House Fire Life Safety compliant will form part of the refurbishment
project. Therefore, it is not possible currently to confirm how much it will cost.</p></td></tr></tbody></table>

<p>There are no plans to remove OneDrive from Members. A configuration change made
to the OneDrive service designed to enhance parliamentary information security had
an unintended impact on the ability of Members to use OneDrive. This change has now
been reversed and we are grateful to the noble Lord and others for drawing this to
our attention.</p>

To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker what is the overall cost, including the cost to the
House Authorities, of the contract to supervise by-elections for hereditary peers;
whether that cost is paid annually or per by-election; and whether the cost is dependent
on the number of candidates or electors.

<p>The costs are paid per by-election. Costs vary according to the number of electors.
The current cost of a whole House by-election is £1440; a Labour or Liberal Democrat
by-election costs £570, and a Conservative or Crossbench by-election costs £600; all
costs are inclusive of VAT. This is in addition to the cost of House of Lords staff
time spent organising the by-election which forms part of their normal duties and
is not costed separately.</p>

To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker whether arrangements will be made to enable members
of the House who wish to observe the count of the votes cast for the hereditary peer
by-election scheduled to take place on 27 and 28 November.

<p>A member of the relevant party or group is appointed to act as scrutineer at each
count, and this will happen on 28 November when the votes (all of which will be cast
by post) will be counted. There is no count on 27 November. There are no plans to
make further arrangements to enable more members of the House to observe the count
of the votes cast.</p>

To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker what assessment he has made of the disruption caused
by the media’s use of College Green; and what consideration, if any, is being given
to the establishment of a permanent media centre elsewhere on the Parliamentary Estate.

<p>Abingdon Green is owned by the House of Commons but day to day access is delegated
by the Clerk of the House to Black Rod. Current policy is to allow public access to
the Green to enable them to pass through on the paths or to use it as a recreational
space. Because of the unique views that the Green affords to Parliament, we also allow
the media to use the Green for the contemporaneous news reporting of events within
Parliament on the basis that this is an important way of communicating to the public
the political issues that are taking place. We do not permit protests or campaigning
on the Green.</p><p>There are occasions when events in Parliament create exceptional
media activity and demand for broadcasting space on the Green. When this occurs, we
conduct a careful assessment on whether to prioritise broadcasting over public access
and where the balance of public interest lies. Although we prefer to maintain dual
use of the Green by public and media, on some occasions we assess that reporting from
the Green must be prioritised and that it is necessary to close it to the public for
safety reasons. Not to do so would limit the ability of a wide section of the broadcast
media, both national, international and radio to provide high quality coverage of
unfolding events in Parliament and interview the politicians involved in a secure
manner.</p><p>Regarding a permanent media centre, no consideration is currently being
given to this. Most media (including broadcast) arrangements are covered through the
existing press lobby arrangements. Under this, nominated members of the media are
accredited with membership of the Press Gallery and allocated desk space within the
House of Commons and given press passes which allow access to the building. This is
a long standing arrangement administered by the House of Commons with well understood
rules which enables open media access to Parliament to be maintained within manageable
levels.</p><p>Additionally, as well as Abingdon Green, there are broadcast points
within both Houses which are used by UK domestic broadcasters for the reporting of
Parliamentary business.</p><p><strong> </strong></p>

To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker whether House of Lords catering services are subject
to food hygiene inspections by Westminster Health Authority; and if so, (1) what Food
Hygiene Rating each Lords catering outlet achieved at their most recent inspection,
and (2) whether outlets are required to display a Food Hygiene Rating Sticker.

<p>The Senior Deputy Speaker has asked me, as Chairman of the Services Committee,
to respond on his behalf.</p><p>As registered food premises, the House of Lords catering
facilities are subject to inspections from Westminster City Council (WCC). At the
last inspection in November 2017, the Environmental Health Officer from WCC Food Safety
Team awarded the highest rating of 5 for all House of Lords catering outlets in the
Palace of Westminster; Millbank House facilities were inspected in November 2016 and
also received a 5 rating. It is a recommendation but not a legal requirement to display
the food hygiene rating sticker. The House of Lords rating stickers are currently
displayed in the River Restaurant and Millbank House Cafeteria.</p>

To ask the Leader of the House whether there is a protocol relating to whether letters
to ministers from members of the House of Lords should receive replies; and if so,
how quickly replies should be sent.

<p>The Government recognises the importance of effective and timely handling of correspondence
with members of the House of Lords. Government departments should aim to provide a
substantive response to routine correspondence within a maximum of 20 working days.
However, sometimes circumstances dictate that it will not be possible to provide a
response within this timeframe. In such instances, departments are advised to issue
a ‘holding’ response until a more substantive response can be provided.</p><p>The
Cabinet Office publishes an annual report detailing departmental performance in the
handling of correspondence from members of both Houses. Lord Young of Cookham set
out the 2017 performance figures in a Written Statement on 26 June 2018 (HLWS771).
The 2018 performance figures will be published in summer 2019.</p>